Bootc and OSTree: Modernizing Linux System Deployment

(a-cup-of.coffee)

44 points by mrtedbear7 hours ago

4 comments

pojntfx1 hour ago
bootc and OSTree are both very neat, but the leading edge of immutable Linux distros (GNOME OS, KDE Linux) is currently converging on a different proposal by systemd developers that's standardized by the UAPI Group (<a href="https://uapi-group.org/specifications/" rel="nofollow">https://uapi-group.org/specifications/</a>). It fixes quite a few of the complexities with OSTree (updates are handled by `systemd-sysupdate`/`updatectl` and are just files served via HTTP) and is quite a bit easier to extend with things like an immutable version of the Nvidia drivers or codecs thanks to system extensions handled by `systemd-sysext` (which in turn are just simple squashfs files overlayed over `/usr`) and configuration via `systemd-confext`. `mkosi`, also by systemd, is quickly becoming _the_ way to build custom images too, and is somewhat tied to these new standards.
- rurban51 minutes ago
 Typo: (CoreOS and Fedora Silverblue) are the bleeding edge of immutable distros. Those mentioned are just users.
 - pojntfx21 minutes ago
 GNOME OS uses BuildStream and as a result has no concept of packages at all and no relationship to any distro, KDE Linux is based on Arch. There is no relationship between the two. GNOME OS used to be OSTree based but switched to systemd-sysupdate a while ago.
- smashed1 hour ago
 > the bleeding edge of immutable Linux distros (GNOME OS, KDE Linux)These are words but they don't make sense.
 - pojntfx9 minutes ago
 Corrected - I meant leading edge.Context re:distros mentioned:GNOME OS: <a href="https://os.gnome.org/" rel="nofollow">https://os.gnome.org/</a> KDE Linux: <a href="https://kde.org/linux/" rel="nofollow">https://kde.org/linux/</a>
 - n4238 minutes ago
 "some of the newer ideas happening in this space are in the GNOME OS project and the KDE Linux project"
 - hparadiz10 minutes ago
 My Gentoo box is immutable. Right up until I run emerge.
- znpy1 hour ago
 From <a href="https://uapi-group.org/" rel="nofollow">https://uapi-group.org/</a> :> Contributing members include people from Ubuntu Core, Debian, GNOME OS, Fedora CoreOS, Endless OS, Arch Linux, SUSE, Flatcar, systemd, image-builder/osbuild, mkosi, tpm2-software, System Transparency, buildstream, BTRFS, bootc, composefs, (rpm-)ostree, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.Note systemd, (rpm-)ostree and bootc.My understanding is that uapi is another initiative but not completely separated from bootc and ostree. Maybe complementary.
 - pojntfx23 minutes ago
 Sorry, not completely separate, yes, but some of the parts of the standard (e.g. systemd-sysext for layering "packages") and closely related things like systemd-sysupdate do actually replace parts of this (esp. ostree).
Borealid4 hours ago
I like the idea of using the same format for kernel-included VMs as I use for containers.Next up, backups stored as layers in the same OCI registries.I am not, however, sure ostree is going to be the final image format. Last time I looked work was in progress to replace that.
- mroche3 hours ago
 It is not, the future is currently pointing to composefs:<a href="https://github.com/bootc-dev/bootc/issues/1190" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/bootc-dev/bootc/issues/1190</a>There's a GitHub org that builds bootc-ready images for non-Red Hat family distributions using this backend.<a href="https://github.com/bootcrew" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/bootcrew</a>
selfhosting_sh2 hours ago
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